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The State of Things

The State of Things was first performed in the spring of 2006 on the 3rd anniversary of the Iraq war. On September 1st, 2008 in collaboration with Northern Lights as part of the UnConvention, Ligorano/Reese recreated The State of Thing’s Democracy ice sculpture, weighing over 1,000 pounds and measuring 5 feet high and 20 feet wide, in front of the State Capitol Building in St. Paul, Minnesota. Over the course of the less than 24 hour installation, the word “Democracy” tragically disappeared. It’s a testimonial to the impact eight years of extreme judicial, legislative, and executive actions have had on American democratic institutions - from the landmark Supreme Court decision “Bush v. Gore” in 2000 to presidential signing statements to illegal FISA surveillance. Video, photography, and audio of the decline of The State of Things was streamed live over the internet, with the goal of public projections and presentations around the world both synchronously and asynchronously. Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese have collaborated together as Ligorano/Reese since the early 1980’s. Nora Ligorano is a visual artist and graduated from Maryland Institute, College of Art. In 1982, she was a Fulbright fellow in design arts in Spain. Marshall Reese is a poet and video artist. In 1978, he received an NEA Creative Writers Fellowship for his poetry. He studied classical languages, classical art and architecture at Pomona College in California.